The present invention relates to an apparatus and a method for sanitizing or washing footwear.
It is generally known to provide an apparatus for sanitizing footwear of a worker in a work or industrial environment. Such known apparatus for disinfecting shoes require substantial intervention, effort, and interaction by the worker with the device. For example, certain types of such known apparatus include porous material that is partially immersed in the disinfection liquid to serve as a wick to impregnate the porous material with the disinfection liquid, such that the user steps onto the porous material and moves his or her feet to clean and disinfect their shoes. Other types of such known apparatus employ rotating brushes powered from an electrical power source.
However, given the limitations of such generally known apparatus, it would be advantageous to provide for an apparatus and a method for sanitizing footwear that is transportable and can be easily installed in or at a wide variety of locations, or moved to or from a wide variety of locations, in a work or industrial environment. It would also be advantageous to provide for an apparatus that is of a relatively simple and low-cost construction and that can deliver a spray of a fluid mixture including disinfectant solution. It would further be advantageous to provide for an apparatus that facilitates simple xe2x80x9cwalk-throughxe2x80x9d operation by the worker. It would be further advantageous to provide for an apparatus and method for sanitizing or washing foreign matter or debris from footwear that allows for convenient adjustment of flow rates and concentration of the disinfectant solution depending upon the needs of a particular application.
It would be desirable for an apparatus and method for sanitizing or washing foreign matter or debris from footwear of a worker in a work or industrial environment to provide one or more of these advantageous features.
The present invention relates to a transportable apparatus for dispensing a fluid in a spray to footwear of a worker. The apparatus includes a housing including a base section, a platform installed within the base section, a fluid dispensing assembly coupled to the housing, and a fluid dispensing system including a first valve assembly configured to dispense fluid to the fluid dispensing assembly when a force is applied to the platform so that the spray of the fluid is dispensed onto the footwear.
The present invention also relates to a method of sanitizing the footwear of a worker with a fluid, including the steps of detecting when the worker has stepped onto a platform and dispensing the fluid onto the footwear for at least a predetermined period.
The present invention further relates to method of sanitizing the footwear of a worker entering or exiting a location in a work or industrial environment, including the steps of positioning an apparatus at the entrance or exit of the location, coupling the apparatus to a supply of a fluid and wherein the apparatus is actuated to provide a flow including the fluid when the worker steps into the apparatus so that the flow including the fluid is dispensed onto the footwear of the worker.
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the apparatus according to a preferred embodiment.
FIG. 2 is a fragmentary front section elevation view of the apparatus.
FIG. 2A is a fragmentary front section elevation view of the apparatus according to an alternative embodiment.
FIG. 3 is a top plan view of the apparatus.
FIG. 4 is a fragmentary left side elevation view of the apparatus.
FIG. 5A is a fragmentary exploded view of the fluid dispensing system of the apparatus according to a preferred embodiment.
FIG. 5B is a sectional elevation view of a flow control element of the apparatus.
FIG. 5C is a perspective view of a fluid mixing element of the apparatus.
FIG. 6 is an exploded perspective view of the apparatus.
FIG. 6A is a sectional view of the apparatus taken along line 6Axe2x80x946A in FIG. 6.
FIG. 7 is a fragmentary right side elevation view of the apparatus.
FIGS. 8A and 8B are exploded views of flow control elements of the apparatus.
FIG. 9 is a fragmentary top plan view of the apparatus.
FIG. 10 is a fragmentary side elevation view of the apparatus.
FIGS. 11 and 12 are fragmentary side sectional elevation views of the apparatus.
FIG. 13 is a fragmentary front section elevation view of the apparatus taken along line 13xe2x80x9413 in FIG. 11.
FIGS. 13 and 14 are a fragmentary front section elevation view of the apparatus taken along line 14xe2x80x9414 in FIG. 12.
FIG. 15 is a fragmentary front elevation view of the electric activation device.
FIG. 16 is a fragmentary side elevation view of the electric activation device.
FIG. 17 is a fragmentary side section view taken along line 17xe2x80x9417 in FIG. 16.
FIG. 18 is a fragmentary side section view taken along line 18xe2x80x9418 in FIG. 16.